For the third time this year, surveillance videotape has surfaced of an off-duty Chicago police officer involved in a bar fight, authorities said.The latest incident became public one day after Police Superintendent Philip J. Cline announced he would retire early. The department has been struggling with the fallout from the previous tapes after one, showing an off-duty officer attacking a female bartender, appeared worldwide on the Internet and cable news channels.Prosecutors were reviewing the new tape and hadn't yet decided whether to file charges, said John Gorman, a spokesman for the Cook County state's attorney's office.The latest complaint was filed last week — before Cline's announcement — by an off-duty police officer visiting from Washington, D.C., Police Department spokeswoman Monique Bond said.Bond would not identify the officer involved or talk about details of the video.... http://www.usatoday.com

International arrest warrants have been issued for three Israeli men wanted in Colombia in connection with the alleged training of paramilitary fighters. Yair Klein, Melnik Ferry and Tzedaka Abraham are accused of giving military training in the 1990s to landowners' and drug-traffickers' private armies. Prosecutors say those trained went on to carry out some of the country's most notorious political assassinations. Some of the fighters went on to form a right-wing paramilitary group, the AUC. Prosecutors have also accused the three men of working for the then powerful Medellin drugs cartel to create a personal army for its leader, Pablo Escobar. The international arrest warrants for Yair Klein, Melnik Ferry and Tzedaka Abraham allege they instructed private, right-wing armies in "military or terrorist tactics, techniques and procedures," as well as conspiracy, a source at the Department of Administrative Security told the AFP news agency. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6524835.stm

German car giant DaimlerChrysler has confirmed for the first time that it is in talks to sell its struggling US Chrysler business. Chief executive Dieter Zetsche said the firm was "talking with some of the potential partners who have shown a clear interest" in Chrysler. The iconic US carmaker, which was acquired by Daimler in 1998, reported a $1.5bn (£776m) loss last year. Pressure has been mounting on the firm's German bosses to sell Chrysler. The world's biggest carmaker, General Motors, and Canadian engineering firm Magna International have been linked with possible bid moves for the Detroit-based firm. Along with big US rivals such as Ford, Chrysler has been hit by higher fuel prices and a move in consumer demand away from gas-guzzling sports utility vehicles and trucks to smaller, more fuel-efficient cars. In February, DaimlerChrysler revealed plans to cut 13,000 US jobs and close two factories as part of renewed attempts to turn the company around. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6525019.stm

Four foreign hostages abducted in Nigeria's volatile Niger Delta region within the last month have been freed. A BBC correspondent says the sudden release of the British oil worker, Dutch security manager and two Lebanese construction workers was a surprise. Nearly 70 foreigners have been kidnapped this year in the oil-rich but impoverished southern Nigerian area. Their release means no hostages are currently being held in the Delta ahead of elections due later this month. However, Chinese hostages snatched from a car assembly plant in the south-eastern town of Nnewi in nearby Anambra State, are still being held. There is speculation that the release may be connected to the elections. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6525529.stm

Violent thunderstorms battered a three-state region with hail as big as softballs and wind that damaged several homes and caused power outages.The storms that hit Arkansas, Kentucky and Tennessee marked the leading edge of a mass of cold air that dropped temperatures Wednesday morning into the 20s in the central Plains and upper Midwest.No tornadoes were confirmed during the storms Tuesday night, but strong wind heavily damaged three homes in Tennessee's Cumberland County, authorities said.The storm damaged the roof of the emergency entrance at the Appalachian Regional Hospital in Harlan, Ky., and emergency room patients were moved to another part of the hospital until the storm was over, Dan Moseley, a spokesman for the Harlan County judge-executive, said Wednesday. No one was injured....http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,263943,00.html

The Thai government blocked access to the popular YouTube video website Wednesday saying a short film it features insults the country's beloved monarch.Blocking access to YouTube was part of the military-installed government's move to shut down any websites deemed insulting to the king, and authorities will crack down on more, said Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom, the minister of information and technology.Sitthichai said YouTube was blocked Wednesday morning after its owner Google turned down his request to remove the contentious Web page, which features a 44-second clip showing graffitti-like elements painted over a slideshow of photographs of 79-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej.One part of the clip juxtaposes pictures of feet over the king's image — a major cultural taboo for Thais since feet are considered extremely dirty and offensive. The soundtrack is the Thai National anthem....http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2007-04-04-thailand-youtube_N.htm?csp=34